MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - A decision to award Martti Ahtisaari the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize has triggered criticism in Russia over his role in the Kosovo settlement.
Ahtisaari, Finland's former president, was announced earlier on Friday as the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate in recognition of his three decades of worldwide mediation efforts, including in the Balkan province.
A senior Russian lawmaker said Ahtisaari's other achievements outweighed his "failure" in Kosovo, but that failure "meant Serbia's breakup."
"If not his UN mission on Kosovo, which Ahtisaari, let's face it, failed to fulfill, the award would not have given rise to unpleasant feelings among those who consider Kosovo's independence illegitimate," said Mikhail Margelov, head of the upper house's international affairs committee.
He praised Ahtisaari as a highly qualified international official. "He deserves the award no less or no more than the peace prize laureates of previous years," Margelov said.
The Nobel committee earlier said in a statement that Ahtisaari, 71, "has figured prominently in endeavors to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts," mentioning his roles in Namibia, Aceh, Kosovo and Iraq and "constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia and on the Horn of Africa." The laureate wins $1.4 million.
Ahtisaari told Norwegian broadcaster NRK he was "very pleased and grateful" to receive the award.
As UN Special Envoy for Kosovo, Ahtisaari laid out a plan in 2007 proposing "supervised independence" for the Albanian-dominated province. It was backed by the Kosovo government, the U.S. and Europe, but strongly opposed by Serbia and Russia as infringing on the former's territorial integrity.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February and has since been recognized by the United States and the majority of European countries. Russia, Serbia's long-time ally and a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, has refused to follow suit.
Macedonia and Montenegro, both formerly part of Yugoslavia, recognized Kosovo - considered by Serbs to be their religious and historical heartland - late on Thursday.
Both countries are seeking to join NATO and the European Union and had been under pressure from the United States and some EU countries to recognize Kosovo's sovereignty.
A Russian ultranationalist lawmaker also criticized the choice for the Nobel Peace Prize.
"He [Ahtisaari] destroyed Serbia. He is like [Mikhail] Gorbachev, who destroyed the Soviet Union and received the peace prize," Vladimir Zhirinovsky said. "Now this Finn receives the prize for helping create a state within Serbia."
"They must be kidding us," Zhirinovsky said.
General Leonid Ivashov, head of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems think tank, said the prize was awarded to Ahtisaari for his role in the annexation of Kosovo from Serbia.
"The politician worked on the U.S. and NATO's side and did everything to destroy Yugoslavia and annex Kosovo," Ivashov said. "The peace prize is obviously an award for his zealous efforts in that shameful process."
Echoing the statement, a leading Russian political scientist said the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision was political and "discredited" the prestigious reward.
"The prize was obviously awarded to Ahtisaari not only for his considerable contribution to peace efforts, but as an acknowledgement of his Kosovo plan, which ... in fact legitimized ethnic cleansing against Serbs," Sergei Markov said.
Markov said the committee's decision in a sense adds to Russia's case of recognizing the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
